Greetings everyone from Melbourne!! The reason I am here is because my friend from back home (Gareth) came out here to see his girlfriend for 3 weeks as she is out playing hockey for the summer and so we arranged that I would go and see them for a few days!

I arrived by plane at Avalon airport last Wednesday morning and was picked up at the airport by Gareth and his girlfriend (Nicole). On the way to from the airport to the house that I was staying Gareth was telling me how nice this house was and when I arrived it certainly wasn't a let down! There was a pool table, bar, swimming pool, hot tub and more importantly, a Darts Board! It really was a beautiful house and a big thanks to Dean and Kate for letting me stay!

Later that day we decided to go to an animal sanctuary, where as you can see from my photos we saw lots of interesting and gorgeous animals. Now please forgive me I don't know what animals are what but I will try and find out!! (Oh apart from the Kangaroos!!!) I really enjoyed this though as it was good to see these creatures that you certainly won't come across in Graves Park!!! That night we had some drinks at the house in the bar area then went to a local nightclub in Mentone which is where I was staying. Had a really good night but was knackered by the end of it as it had been a long day getting up at 5am!!

On Thursday we headed to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for a tour around the ground. This only cost 15 bucks (about 6 pounds) and really was amazing. We had a tour guide who showed us around and we got to see the trophy room, changing room and went onto the pitch. As this ground is 'the home of cricket' in Australia I was fearing the worst and expected to get some stick about being English and rubbish at most sports, so when the tour guide asked where everyone was from I really was tempted to put on an Australian accent and say I was from Sydney but then I realised it wouldn't work, so we told them we was from England. And yes we did get alot of stick all the way through the tour!! Nevertheless it was a really good way to spend a few hours and a must for any sporting fans visiting Melbourne. I have uploaded lots of pics from this.

On Friday we went on the Neighbours tour!!!!! This was great! We got picked up from the City by a bus with Neighbours scrolled all over it, and then driven about 40 minutes to Erinsborough!!! We went first to the Erinsborough High School and had photos taken there, then went to the studios where alot of Neighbours is filmed, and met the legend that is Susan Kennedy!! She was really nice and posed for photos and signed autographs for about 20 minutes. Also there was Carpenters garage and the Greasy Monkeys!!! After taking lots of pics there we headed to . . . . Ramsey Street, where we had pictures taken outside all the famous houses!! Now I don't know if you know this but the houses on the street are actually real houses what real people live in, they only film the outside of the street and the rest is done at the studios, so needless to say we didn't get to go in the houses!!! Now I'm sorry if you don't watch Neighbours as I've just wasted a couple of minutes of your life but I had to include this in my blog and this trip is a must for all you Neighbours fanatics!!! On Friday night we went to the Telstra Dome to watch an Australian Football League match (AFL) which was really good, I didn't really understand the actual game to begin with but by the end I knew the basics! Again the stadium was amazing and they had a retractable roof which was on so the atmosphere was awesome!

On Saturday we headed into the city and went shopping during the day and just had a quiet night. On Sunday I made a massive decision that could affect my life forever!!....... I decided to permanently dye my hair!!! I headed off to the chemist and purchased a 'Rich Chocolate Permanent Hair Dye Pack'!!! I got back to the house were Gareth had the task off applying this to my hair!! 30 minutes later and it's done!!....... and to be honest I love it! Gareth and Nicole think it looks wicked and I've told the boys about it and am eagerly waiting to see what they think! I'll upload pics soon so you can see for yourselves! (I'll be interested to know what you think Heather!!!)

Today (Monday) is Gareth's last day so he has just been busy packing all day and saying his goodbyes whilst I have also been preparing to depart as I had back to Sydney on Tuesday and meet up with the boys again where I will be getting a job (yes I know I said that on my previous blog!!!) and working until the boys have more money saved so we can hit the road.

I have had such an amazing time in Melbourne and met some really friendly people!!! Thanks to Gareth & Nicole for making it such fun. I maybe heading back here soon with the boys for a few days as part of our travels!

Hope everyone ok back in the UK, sorry to hear about the weather! I will be regularly updating my photos from Sydney so please look out for any new ones I put on.

Hope everyone is well and ill be in touch soon

Ben